Butt lifting: verb To execute the first phase of the snatch or clean pull by lift one's buttox or hips prior to initiating their hamstrings. Example: "Jim butt lifted that snatch."
At Risto Sports, I use the term "Butt lifting" to describe a very common technical mistake. Many new athletes will have a tendency to start their lift by raising their hips and not using their legs. Starting with the hips and butt causes the bar to be too far out in front of the lifter. Hence, instead of pulling and extending straight up with the bar in the second phase of the pull, the lifter must pull the bar back towards themselves, then wildly bang the bar off their hips/pelvic area.
At Risto Sports, I use the term "Butt lifting" to describe a very common technical mistake. Many new athletes will have a tendency to start their lift by raising their hips and not using their legs. Starting with the hips and butt causes the bar to be too far out in front of the lifter. Hence, instead of pulling and extending straight up with the bar in the second phase of the pull, the lifter must pull the bar back towards themselves, then wildly bang the bar off their hips/pelvic area.
Honestly, I can't blame our human innateness to want to swing the bar-- it looks cool. Butt lifters make themselves appear to be faster than good technicians to the untrained eye. Plus, swinging a bar is much, much harder than doing a technically correct pull
...BUT butt lifting has tragic side effects of (1) possibly damaging the spine , (2) a misshapenly large butt (more triangular than round), and (3) keep the lifter lifting way under their potential.
In terms of spine injuries: In the last few years, there have been several National level lifters who have had back fractures. My hunch would be Butt lifting. For every centimeter the bar is away from you, the force on your spine multiplies by a factor of 7 to 15 times (basically, the further and further away, the force non-linearly increases). So, yeah, swinging the bar can do some damage.
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Coach Victor doing video analysis
with 56kg National Champion Darren Barnes
- a great lifter
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Some symptoms of butt lifting or "how to diagnose":
- the first motion the lifter makes in their lift is to rise the hips - use video analysis to catch this
- the is a large distance (more than a centimeter) between the bar and the lifter's body at the top of the pull -- use video analysis to catch this
- the lifter whacks their pelvic area or hips on the final phase of the pull -- listen for "owww!"
- the lifter may need to jump back to compensate -- use video analysis to catch this
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| Working the proper snatch positions with, Lauren Ancona, a new talent from Jiu Jitsu. Good technique early on pays dividends |
CASE STUDY:
This weekend, I was training at the Moorestown, NJ Community Olympic Development Progam this weekend. Ivan and I diagnosed several cases of this technical flaw. Being the caring people we are, we spent time showing athletes exercises to combat this.
The key to fixing this problem is to force the lifter to pull with their legs. The start of the pull should not be a Romanian deadlift; it's got to be a push off with the large muscle groups of the legs. Snatch pulls, with the requirement that the lifter not drop the bar on the return to floor, is a good option.
Most lifters, can make large technical improvements on this phase of the pull in a few sessions. This will save them injuries, improve their totals, as well as keep their body's nice physical shape ;)
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